The Trouble with Brunettes
by Aedammair
Summary: Remember the lecture your parents gave you about not playing with shiny devices? Aeda Harrison and Abbie Webber really should have listened... an Aedammair & Verb story featuring Doctors Aeda Harrison, Abbie Webber, and, of course, Daniel Jackson.
1. Polka Dots on the Odyssey

_So awhile back, the lovely and talented Verb contacted me and asked if I wanted to collaborate with her on a story involving my character of Aeda Harrison and her character of Abbie Webber. Being a fan of Verb, I jumped at the chance and what resulted was not only a pretty great story but also a pretty great friendship._

_We alternated chapters and while you read, each chapter will identify which of us wrote it. _

_DISCLAIMER: We don't have anything but our college loans and meager bank accounts to our names. Aeda is mine and Abbie is Verb's and the rest belong to MGM and SciFi...oh, and I claim ownership of Bear. :D_

_CHAPTER ONE - by Aedammair_

* * *

CHAPTER ONE

_ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1_

Aeda Harrison had seen some strange things her relatively short lifespan. She'd visited different planets, had taken down a G'ould system lord with a shovel and just the right amount of rage, and had learned that not everything in Lt. Col. Samantha Carter's lab liked to be messed with. Her life had, at times, felt like a science fiction novel, complete with an alien friend and top secret government program. So it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to her when her kitchen filled with light one early June morning and she found herself standing on the bridge of the Odyssey, thousands of miles above Earth.

No, the only surprise was that she hadn't put pants on that morning and therefore she greeted her kidnappers in a robe, a tank top, and purple polka dot underwear. It didn't help that Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell was standing behind the Captain's chair with a huge, head-splitting grin plastered on his face.

'You need to start wearing pants,' he said with a chuckle and she fought the urge to throw something at him.

'You need to start calling first,' she said and hastily tied her robe closed. She frowned at the Captain. 'Something I can help you with or are you just in the habit of hastily kidnapping early risers in the Boston area?'

The man sputtered, looked at Mitchell – whose grin was unwavering – and tried to backpedal. 'I'm sorry for the abrupt pick up, ma'am, but Colonel Mitchell insisted that it was important.'

She turned her steely gaze towards Cameron, whose grin finally wavered slightly. 'Perhaps Colonel Mitchell should pick up a phone the next time he thinks something is important.'

'Don't be so grouchy,' Cam said, coming around to take her arm and lead her off the bridge.

'You're not the one who just flashed an entire crew of people,' she said as they rounded a corner.

'If it's any consolation, you look good in your underwear.'

The both stopped dead in their tracks and Cam slowly pivoted on his heel to look her in the eye. She was trying not to smile at what he just said and she could see that he was trying to account for why he just said it.

'Did you just tell me that I look good in my underwear?' she asked, crossing her arms and adopting what Daniel always called her 'attitude stance'.

He matched it with his own, tilted his head to the side. 'Maybe.'

'You realize I'm perfectly capable of beating you?'

He struggled with a smile. 'Yes, ma'am.'

'Why am I here, Cameron, besides your blatant attempt to catch me half-naked?' she asked as they once again began their trek through the halls of the Odyssey.

'I did catch you half-naked.' She smacked him across the back of his head. 'Ow! Point taken. You're here because we picked up something I thought you needed to see.'

Her feet were beginning to hurt from walking on the cold, steel floor of the ship. They eventually stopped outside a pair of doors that said 'Medical Bay' and he turned to look at her once more. His expression was serious, more so than she'd seen it in a year, and suddenly her light-hearted mood was gone.

'Who's in there?' she asked. He took her hand, squeezed it, and opened the doors for her.

Across the room, propped up in a bed, and unrecognizable from the ascended version of him that she saw months earlier, was Daniel Jackson. In the flesh. With a full beard.

'Holy hell,' she said and crossed the room in a sprint. She stopped at the side of his bed, ignoring the nagging feeling that had just settled in her brain. He was asleep and she reached down, took his arm, and pinched him. Hard.

'Ow!' he hollered and yanked his arm away. His eyes flew open and he looked up at her. 'What did you do that for?' he asked, just a little angrily.

'To see if you were real.' She dropped his hand. 'Now you. Pinch me.'

He looked around her at Cameron and Cameron shrugged. Daniel sighed, took Aeda's hand, and pinched the back of it. Hard.

'Ow!' she said and smacked his shoulder.

'Hey. Don't beat up on the guy newly returned from the dead.'

Aeda looked at him, considered the six months worth of beard growth, and resisted the urge to kiss him senseless in a room full of witnesses. It was then that the nagging feeling surfaced. The last time he returned to Earth from being Ascended, he didn't remember anything or anyone. It took him almost a year to get everything back, at least according to Jack's version of events.

She'd only recently accepted the fact that he was Ascended. Accepting the fact that he doesn't remember her wasn't something she wanted to deal with – not now, not ever.

'Do you remember me?' she asked tentatively.

Daniel appraised her, his eyes following the lines of her body, a body he should know almost as well as his own. She blushed without meaning to and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. 'I can't be sure. I think you were naked the last time I saw you.' She frowned at him. 'Yes, Aeda, I remember you.'

Witnesses be damned.

She crawled into the bed, curled herself around him, and kissed him senseless. When she was satisfied that he was alive and real and that she wasn't dreaming, she pulled away just slightly and smiled at him. 'Well?' she asked. 'What do you have to say for yourself?'

He arched an eyebrow, regarded her with concentrated thought, and said, 'And to think, I thought the highlight of my day was when Mitchell hugged me.'


	2. Polka Dots in the SGC

_CHAPTER TWO - by Verb_

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CHAPTER TWO

_ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"Good Morning Campers!"

Daniel's body jolted upward, his chair dancing with the movement. His head, now free of the cradle he had made with his arms, stopped inches from smacking against the lamp that still shone light over the books that littered his desk. He was having trouble coping with the surge of adrenaline coursing through his still technically asleep body.

"Jack?"

Jack smirked at his friend. "Who else?"

"Yes, who else?" Daniel answered distractedly, searching for his glasses. "So, what brings you here?"

Jack walked carefully around the blanket covered couch to fiddle with one of the masks hanging from the wall. "SG-16 found something shiny for Carter and something with squiggles all over it for you." He backed away when a mask shuddered and made an unsuccessful leap for the ground. "I was trying to locate Dr. Webber on my way over. Some of the staff I ran into pointed me in her direction, said you've been taking on a bit too much lately and that she's been helping you out."

Daniel made a furtive glance at the couch. "Um, yeah, she has."

Jack eyes followed Daniel's gaze. Was it him or was that blanket breathing? "That's nice, archeologist solidarity and all that. Science geeks around the world." He carefully sized up what could be a person shaped lump under the blanket. "You should make up a secret handshake."

"Yes, I'll bring that up at the next meeting."

Jack stared questioningly at his former teammate.

"Sorry, the sarcasm isn't very sharp this early in the morning." Daniel shrugged, taking up the search for his glasses. "And for your information, Abbie's a cryptographer, not an archeologist, and I haven't seen her today." Daniel tried not to smile. It was sort of true – he had just woken up and, technically, had not laid eyes on Abbie yet. "What do you want, Jack?"

"Just to tell you that we have a briefing at 1000 hours," Jack kept his voice calm, ignoring the wide eyed protest from Daniel once he figured out what Jack was doing, and continued his stealthy advance towards the couch. "Make sure to tell Dr. Webber she's required to attend as well."

"I will. Jack, would you sto-"

"One step closer O'Neill, and I promise you and Thor will have one more thing in common."

Jack smiled as he flipped the blanket down, uncovering to the waist one very rumpled and sleepy looking arecholog- uh, cryptographer. "Hello Doctor."

Abbie rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up. "General. Something I can help you with?"

"Not really. Just be at the-"

"Briefing, 1000 hours. Yeah, I got that." Abbie wiggled uncomfortably as she spoke. Something was poking her in the spine. "Anything else?" she said as she reached behind her and removed the offending item, dropping it in her lap.

Jack smirked as he watched the color rise on Abbie's face. He pointed to her lap. "Just be sure to return those to their proper place."

Daniel pushed the still smug General out of his office. "Bye Jack." After shutting the door behind him, Daniel turned and smiled softly at Abbie "I've been looking for those."

Abbie gave an embarrassed shrug as he walked back to his chair, brushing a kiss on the top of her head as he passed. She handed his glasses to him once he was seated. "I have no idea how they got there."

"I do."

Abbie smacked his arm. "Daniel, what have I told you about using that tone of voice?"

Daniel rubbed the now sore spot on his arm. "That it's to be reserved for talking you out of your clothes and asking favors from Betty at Michelle's Chocolatiers downtown."

"Exactly." Abbie stretched, raising both hands above her head. The move caused the blanket to slip down her body, revealing an article of clothing Daniel was sure he hadn't seen before.

"I think a better question is, why aren't you wearing pants." At Abbie's confused look, Daniel pointed to her nearly exposed hip, then had to stifle a laugh when she panicked, pulling the blanket up to her neck.

"Jack didn't see that, did he?" Abbie's eyes were wide with fear, knowing she would never be able to show her face in front of the General again.

"No, he didn't," Daniel tried to soothed her panicked mind. "If he did, I'm sure he would have made some kind of Bootes constellation reference."

Abbie just rolled her eyes as she stood, careful to wrap the blanket tightly around her middle. She was caught off guard when Daniel reached forward and pulled her into his lap.

"Hi."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hi yourself."

He placed his hands on her back, rubbing in small circles. "You going to tell me where you bought those underwear?"

Abbie grinned. "Nope. Why?"

Daniel kissed her neck, making his way with his lips up to just beneath her ear. "I was going to go back and buy you every color they have."

She smacked his arm again, a small voice in the back of her mind reminding her that his office was not the place for this discussion, but ignoring it anyway. "What, you don't like the ones I have on now?"

Daniel gave her a lazy smile. "It's not that I don't like the purple polka dots, I just think that blue is more your color."

"Well, if you're good at the briefing, I might just take you to the store myself." Abbie smiled again when something a little wild flashed behind his eyes. She resisted his protests and managed to stand up, straightening her makeshift skirt and grabbing her shoes from behind the couch. "I should get going – must find something to wear pants-wise to the briefing. How much time do I have?"

Daniel adjusted his glasses and glanced down at his watch. "About an hour."

"Excellent. Time to grab a shower and find some pants." Abbie reached down and gave Daniel a soft kiss, pulling away reluctantly to make her way to the door. "Promise me you'll grab something to eat for breakfast?"

"Do brownies count as breakfast?" Daniel spun in his chair, trying to maintain a straight face. "Guess not. Go, find your pants and I'll see you in the briefing room."

Abbie nodded and exited his office, the quiet slap of her sock feet echoing in the empty corridor.

Rubbing a hand over his face, Daniel picked up his coffee cup up off the desk and made plans to head to the commissary once he had gathered his files for the briefing. Hopefully, this time SG-16 had brought back something useful, instead of an alien version of a Monopoly board.


	3. The Shiny Device Theory

_CHAPTER THREE - by Aedammair_

* * *

CHAPTER THREE

_BACK TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1_

The small, silver device was mocking them, Aeda was sure of it.

She and Sam had spent the better part of the afternoon staring at it, trying to come up with some meaning to attribute to it, and neither one of them had anything more than the fact that it was covered in what looked like runes and it was probably made of naquadah. Oh, and they were able to turn it on, somehow, but without really understanding what it did turning it on was kind of meaningless.

Neither Sam, nor Aeda were all that fond of meaningless technological advances. They were…annoying.

'Look on the bright side,' she said when Sam leaned back and sighed the familiar sigh of a defeated scientist.

'What's that?' Sam asked.

'Daniel's alive and you're going to Pegasus soon.'

Sam smiled slightly. 'Two excellent points. Maybe I'll just leave this for Dr. Lee.'

Cameron arrived at that moment with their lunches. He had left an hour or so earlier, after a particularly well-formed burst of curses left Sam's mouth, to go in search of sustenance. Aeda had suspected it was a ploy to get away from them and to also try and bust Daniel out of the infirmary, but he arrived with food in hand and no Daniel in sight.

'We have chicken pot pie, something that resembles roast beef, and fruit salad.'

He set the tray down on the lab table and took the thing that resembled roast beef for himself. Aeda grabbed the fruit salad and smiled at Sam's pout.

'We'll share the fruit salad,' she said.

They ate in silence, each staring at the device on the table. The silence was broken by the timely arrival of Teal'c, who entered the lab and smiled widely at Aeda.

'AedaHarrison, it is good to see you again.'

Aeda grinned around a mouthful of strawberry. 'Thank you, Teal'c.'

He nodded towards the device. 'I spoke with DoctorLee in the mess and he informed me of this new device. Have you come to any new conclusions, ColonelCarter?'

Sam frowned. 'I know it turns on.'

Cameron rolled his eyes and Sam smacked him. The Jaffa's smile widened but he said nothing. Instead, he turned to Aeda.

'There has been talk of a ping pong tournament later on in the recreation room. DanielJackson speaks highly of your ping pong skills and I would be honored to play you.'

Over his shoulder, Aeda could see Cameron mouthing the word 'no' and shaking his head. She pointedly ignored him.

'I'd love to, Teal'c. Come get me when you're ready.'

He nodded and left as quietly as he came. Cameron watched him go and waited a beat before turning to Aeda and laughing.

'What?' she asked.

'You're going to look like you lost a fight with a paint ball gun.'

Aeda frowned and smacked him on the shoulder. She was rewarded with an 'ouch' and it made her smile.

'Would you women quit smacking me?'

Sam intervened before it could escalate.

'Can we get back to being frustrated by this thing?'

'Sure,' Cameron said and finished off his sandwich. 'What do we know about it so far?'

'It's covered in what appear to be runes.'

He shrugged. 'So we need a book to help us translate it.'

Sam's left eyebrow lifted in an arch, but she said nothing. Aeda shook her head. 'We're going to need more than a book.'

'They're just runes,' Cameron said.

Aeda frowned at him. 'In 1998 they discovered a Viking hall in Sweden that had been buried underground for more than 900 years. The interior walls were covered in runes. Do you know how long it took them to translate them?'

'How long?'

'They're still working on the first wall.'

Sam smiled at the bewildered look on Cameron's face. 'We need someone who's familiar with at least the basics,' she explained.

'We need a linguist,' Aeda said. 'A sharp one. Someone like Daniel.'

A grin split Cameron's face in half and Aeda was suddenly very afraid of what was about to come out of his mouth.

'So what you're saying is that Daniel's a cunning…'

'Finish that sentence and die.'

The snapping shut of Cameron's jaw was so audible it was comical. Aeda smiled sweetly and Cameron nodded very slowly. He'd seen what she could do with a shovel and, apparently, his memory was good at keeping him alive.

'I hear we have a new toy to play with,' a familiar voice said from the doorway of Sam's lab and they all turned to stare at Daniel. He was leaning heavily on a makeshift cane and his beard growth was gone, but he was alive and it made Aeda want to cry all over again. She took a deep breath and warded it off. 'Anyone know what it does just yet?'

Sam's frown was so deep that lines formed on her forehead. 'It turns itself on,' she said bitterly.

Daniel looked at Aeda as he hobbled into the lab. 'Was it something I said?'

'Coming back from the dead hasn't done much for your tact, has it?' she asked with a small smile. He shrugged. 'Dr. Lee dropped it off this morning. Apparently, it has the same energy signature as a quantum mirror but, as you can see, it doesn't look anything like that device. It's primarily made out of naquadah and there are symbols carved along the outer rim. They look like runes.'

Daniel smiled at her, kissed her cheek. 'Do you have any idea what you just said?' he asked.

She returned his smile. 'Everything but naquadah. Sam filled me in on the quantum mirror while you were being poked and prodded by Dr. Lam.'

Daniel nodded and looked past Aeda to Cameron, who was sitting very still and saying very little. 'Let me guess,' he said and Cameron nodded. 'She threatened your life.' Cameron smiled very slightly and nodded again. 'At least she didn't punch you in the jaw. Even as an ascended being that hurt.'

Cameron laughed and Aeda had the decency to blush, just slightly. Daniel turned his attention to the device. 'Cam, there's a book…'

'Aha!' Cameron shouted and pointed at Aeda. 'I told you so!' Even Sam had to laugh at the ridiculous, boyish expression on his face. Daniel ignored him.

'There's a book in my office, third bookshelf to the right of the door, top row. Dark green with white lettering.'

'Got it,' Cameron said and bolted from the room with an expression akin to relief.

'So when do you leave for Pegasus?' Daniel asked Sam as Aeda helped him onto a stool.

'Two weeks.'

'Excited?'

'Nervous. Jack's coming with me for the ride on the Daedalus. We all know how wonderful he is when confined to a small space for an extended period of time.' She smiled and Aeda noticed the way her eyes softened at the mention of everyone's favorite General.

'Bring the Gameboy,' Daniel said and Sam laughed.

'You have a lot of books on runes,' Cameron said as he returned and threw the little green book at Daniel, who, much to the surprise of everyone in the lab, caught it with one deft move. 'You came back with reflexes,' Cameron said, slightly awed.

'Imagine that,' Daniel retorted, though Aeda noticed he, too, seemed a little surprised.

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

Daniel and Aeda leaned forward and touched the device at the same time. A bright white light engulfed the lab and when it faded away, Sam and Cameron were left looking at two empty stools and a dark green book.

'Not again,' was all Sam could manage.

'My thoughts exactly,' Cameron said and he reached for the phone to call General Landry.

Sam smiled because it was easier than frowning. 'Let's just hope it's a nice parallel universe…'

Aeda opened her eyes and discovered that while the people staring at her all looked familiar, they were not, in truth, familiar people. It took her a minute, but when she finally realized just what was going on, her dark eyes settled on the new face in the group, a petite woman with dark hair and a kind face. It didn't take a smart woman to see that in this reality, Daniel was attached to that woman.

Then again, the hand on her hip kind of helped to explain it.

All of it struck Aeda as incredibly amusing, which was why she smiled, turned her head to look at her Daniel, and, after sliding her glasses down just slightly to stare at him in a very librarian way, said in her most deadpan voice:

'What is it with you and dark haired women?'


	4. Of Doughnuts and Cupcakes

_CHAPTER FOUR - by Verb_

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR

_BACK TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"Teal'c, weren't you on doughnut duty this week?"

Teal'c regarded his friend and former teammate with the Jaffa version of an eye roll. "It is in fact ColonelCarter's turn, O'Neill. She informed me that she was unable to do so, as the items SG-16 procured have required a great deal of her attention."

Jack slumped a little in his chair. "Bummer." His gaze fell to the briefing room door just as Daniel and Abbie walked in, laughing about something geeky, no doubt. "Daniel. Doctor Webber – good of you to join us."

Daniel checked his watch. "We're not late, Jack – it's only 9:55."

"And it's Abbie, remember?" Abbie teased the General as she and Daniel sat down, their backs to the window that allowed a direct view to the Stargate.

Jack dropped his gaze to stare at his watch. "Ah, so it is. Which means that, right about now, Carter should come screaming around the corner, all excited and 'Sir! The objects from PX3 something or other'-"

"Has some very interesting metallic and somewhat familiar properties." Colonel Samantha Carter spoke from the doorway, arms folded across her chest.

Jack's face twisted into a slight wince. "Doh."

Sam walked into the room and took her seat next to Teal'c, unable to keep the smirk off of her face. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, sir. Although, I don't think my voice is that high pitched." She turned to Teal'c. "Is it?"

"It is not, ColonelCarter. His impersonation of DanielJackson is much more credible."

"True," Abbie confirmed as Daniel hid a smile behind his cup of coffee.

"Let's get on with the briefing before this turns into a mutiny, shall we?" Jack rubbed his hands together in an all too familiar gesture. "So what's the big deal with the shinny thing, Carter?"

"Well, as I said, sir, the actual device itself is rather similar." She placed the relatively small device on the table in front of her. "The frame appears to be made of naquadah, and contains a small electromagnetic charge that Dr. Lee and I believe we have encountered in only one other device. We think it's a quantum mirror."

Teal'c let his face settle into a half frown. "It does not appear to have adequate mass to transport an entire human being."

Sam nodded. "We think it's designed for a quick getaway within a reality, something you could conceal on your person."

"Pocket sized," Daniel said approvingly as he plucked it off the table and started to examine it, tracing his fingers around the carvings set in its frame. "But where's the remote?"

Abbie slid her copy of SG-16's mission report closer so she could read it, only somewhat distracted by the movement on Daniel's hand. "According to this, they couldn't find it – all the other items brought back were children's toys." She looked back up and addressed the room. "It's possible it was also just a child's toy," she speculated. "Only good for moves between rooms or locations within a designated area. Sam?"

She nodded her agreement. "Possible. We're still not sure if the technology here is specific enough to travel between parallel universes, but so far we can't completely rule it out."

"So we don't have to worry about any other Teal'c walking through that thing, all waving a staff weapon and yelling 'Kree!' at everyone?" Jack asked, only a little eager to confirm that he wouldn't have to compete with another version of himself for the chocolate frosted doughnuts.

"It's a very small possibility, Sir." Sam watched at Daniel returned the device to the table in front of her. "But we can't completely rule it out."

"Ok, then I'll issue an order for its destruction – we don't want this place becoming the rec room for all of the SG teams of the multi-verse."

"Unless they bring doughnuts." Teal'c intoned.

Jack gave Teal'c an approving look. "Speaking of doughnuts, Carter, wasn't that your responsibility for today?"

Carter shook her head. "No sir – I ended up swapping days with Abbie. Today for next Wednesday."

Jack swiveled around in his chair to pin Abbie with a look that was half accusatory, half sad puppy. She had to swallow a giggle. "Sorry, Jack. I sort of slept in this morning."

"I'll say." Daniel muttered under his breath, earning a sharp kick to his shin under the table.

Abbie pasted a bright smile on her face. "I promise – next time, I'll get a dozen of the chocolate frosted ones."

"Excellent!" Jack clapped his hands together and stood up. "I think that's about it for today, then. I have to go see Walter about a commissary menu. They're trying to serve those gawdawful vegetables again."

Abbie let out an over dramatic gasp. "Vegetables?"

"The audacity!" Daniel picked up the mockery with perfect timing.

Jack pretended not to notice. "I know! I mean, how am I supposed to run a super secret government run underground facility in the middle of the Colorado Mountains without cupcakes?"

Daniel was about to say something about frosting when a flash of light flooded the room, blinding everyone for a few seconds. When they regained the use of their eyesight, they discovered that they were not alone.

Jack sat there, slightly dumbstruck. "Now I know I didn't order THAT in my coffee this morning."

Even Teal'c was starting to show signs of confusion. "Indeed."

Standing on the table was Daniel, or at least another universe's Daniel, standing beside a woman with thick dark hair, wearing a pair of heavily framed purple glasses.

Abbie openly stared, her eyes darting between the two Daniels, and then at the dark haired woman standing on the table, for once in her life at a loss for what to say. Thankfully, she was the only one.

Aeda turned to Daniel and said, dryly, "What is it with you and dark haired women?"


	5. Go On and Google Me

_CHAPTER FIVE - by Verb_

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

_STILL IN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"Are you Googling me?"

Startled, Abbie's pen lost the war with gravity and rolled onto her desk. Turing her chair towards the now open office door, Abbie found one Aeda Harrison lounging against the doorframe, hands in her pockets.

Abbie offered a tentative smile. "Can I still plead the fifth if I'm Canadian?"

Aeda shrugged. "Probably not. But from what I've heard so far, I'd be hard pressed to find someone who'd try to argue with you."

Abbie let out a quiet bark of laughter. "True enough. But that might be because I sign their paychecks when Daniel's not around."

With a nod to the SF hovering just outside her personal space, Aeda made the short journey to the couch in Abbie's office, feeling a little bit like she was back at Harvard and being scrutinized by yet another academic board. Then again, Abbie probably felt something similar.

Abbie hit a few keys and a SETI screensaver appeared on her computer as she swiveled back to face Aeda. "So, how was the security de-briefing?"

"Rather civilized, actually," Aeda admitted. "I'm still not entirely sure how we got here, but General O'Neill and Colonel Carter were really great about everything, especially the 'Hey, I'm Aeda, Daniel's ex-sort of assistant, but not your Daniel even though he's pretty much the same as my Daniel'. Seems it's not the first time you've had a run in with an alternate universe."

Abbie nodded. "It happens enough that some of the new recruits see it as a rite of passage of sorts." Abbie's face contorted into a slight frown. "Did Jack get you to try the pie?"

Aeda recognized the slight sparkle in the other woman's eye that betrayed her serious facial expression. "He did, in fact. What is up with that – I was expecting more blood tests, not a sugar coma."

Abbie laughed as she pulled some files off her desk and into her lap. "Jack is of the opinion that we have the best pie in – I think we're up to four alternate universes. He's particularly proud of the strawberry rhubarb."

"_That's_ why he was muttering to Carter about 'cross-universe double blinds'," Aeda mused.

"Probably."

Aeda regarded Abbie carefully. She wasn't blind – she had seen how the Daniel from this universe had subtly changed his body language to practically scream protective when she and her Daniel had shown on up on their briefing room table. But, if she was honest, the other woman looked nervous. Not threatened, but uncomfortable, as if someone had died and she didn't know what to say.

_Close enough_.

"So," Aeda asked smoothly, "You were Googling me?"

Abbie grinned. "Damn. I had hoped to distract you with pie."

"No dice," Aeda shook her head. "Besides, I'm curious to see what the me in this universe it up to."

"Sure?" Aeda made a 'bring it on' gesture. "Ok, well, as it turns out, you live in Connecticut, you're a professor of Mathematics and Philosophy at Yale University, you have three children, all boys, and . . ." Abbie's voice trailed off.

"And?" Aeda prompted.

"And, apparently, your legal name is Adam."

Aeda took a moment to process. "Adam?"

"Adam."

"I'm a dude?"

"Apparently, yes," Abbie confirmed. Abbie knew enough about alternate universes to know it was possible that Aeda was a, well, dude, in this one. There's no law that says gender would remain constant across all of the billions of alternate universes. But she wasn't sure if Aeda's silence meant she was just thinking or gearing up for one hell of a freak out.

"Huh." Aeda shook her head a little to clear it. "Well, I guess there's no law that says gender would remain constant across all of the billions of alternate universes."

Abbie broke into a relieved smile. "Exactly." She replaced the file on her desk.

Aeda gave Abbie a look. "You were just thinking that, weren't you?"

"I can see why your Daniel likes you." It was out of her mouth before she could think.

Aeda stared a second longer than she should have. "You too, huh? Thought so."

_Well at least the elephant is being acknowledged now._

"Yes, well, it appears our dear archaeologists slash linguists have a 'type'," Abbie scrunched up her face as if the word had tasted bad to say.

Aeda wholeheartedly agreed. She was way too stubborn and sarcastic to be anyone's type – and evidently Abbie felt the same.

"I wonder if that means they have the same taste in other things." She leaned closer to Abbie and stage whispered "What color are his boxers?"

Abbie couldn't stop the blush that raced up her neck and flooded her cheeks, nor could she stop from laughing out loud. _I think we'll be getting along just fine._

Before she could answer, Dr. Bill Lee barged through her door. "Hey, Doctor Webber, got a second? That shiny box from P3X-577 is starting to freak out some of our- oh. Hello."

Abbie stood up and made the introductions. "Bill, this is Aeda Harrison. Aeda, this is Doctor-"

"Bill Lee, civilian engineer assigned to the SGC," Aeda finished as she rose to shake Bill's hand. "We have one, too."

Bill's eyebrows rose into his . . . well, where his hairline used to be. "So the email was real? You're from an alternate universe?"

"That I am," Aeda confirmed.

"Well that's good to hear," Bill agreed. "You can never tell with General O'Neill – last time one of my guys really did think the sprinkles on those cupcakes were radioactive. Tell me, Aeda, in your universe, am I head of the science department?"

"Not to my knowledge," Aeda gave Abbie a quick look. "But you did help Carter blow up a sun once."

"Oh, our Carter can do that all on her own," Abbie smirked.

"Hey, I've blown up my fair share of things in the past," Bill protested.

"And I'm sure you've got the tiny little pieces of a ZPM to prove it."

Abbie started to guide Bill to the door while throwing a smile at Aeda. "Bill, why don't you send me an email about the . . . shiny thing and I'll get to it as soon as we get Aeda and Daniel back home, ok?"

"Sounds fine. Wait, did you say Daniel? Man, he really does get all the attractive women in all of the universes. There's got to be a per guy limit."

Abbie closed the door, blocking out the rest of Dr. Lee's rant. "He means well, and he's a solid researcher, but ever since him and his wife got divorced . . ." She shrugged and sank back into her chair.

"Really?" Aeda though for a second. "Our Dr. Lee is exactly the same – and he's been married for as long as I've known him."

"Weird how some things are so similar," Abbie commented.

"Yeah." Aeda made her way back to the couch and settled down. "So are we gonna talk about this?"

A wry smile snuck its way onto Abbie's lips. "Why? You going to hit me with a shovel if I don't?"

Aeda gave her a look. "Daniel told you, didn't he?" The Daniel from this universe had been part of the debriefing, and after he had left the room with her Daniel for a little intellect swapping she figured he'd be relaying information to the rest of the base, with one woman in particular at the top of the list.

Abbie nodded. "I got the email just as you walked in. Seems the two of them are getting along like a Zed-PM on fire and are nervous about us doing the same."

"Understandable," Aeda agreed. "But if they're so similar, and had the good taste to be with us-"

"Respectively."

Aeda nodded her thanks, "- then we're probably going to get along just fine. And we can swap Daniel stories."

Abbie rubbed her hands together in an anticipatory nature. It looked awfully familiar to Aeda. "You're not related to Jack, are you?"

"Jack O'Neill? No. Are you?"

"Sort of. He's my godfather."

"Really?" At Aeda's nod, Abbie leaned back in her chair and thought. "I may as well be, the way Jack is protective of Daniel and me."

Aeda started to remember some of those glances between Abbie and her Daniel." How long have you been dating?"

"Jack?"

"No."

A bit of color made its way to Abbie's cheeks. "About 4 months, plus or minus three hours." At Aeda's raised eyebrow, Abbie explained. "I count it from the hour he met all my crazy friends and didn't run away screaming." Abbie ducked her head in slight embarrassment. "And Daniel counts it from when he backed me up against my door and kissed the hell out of me."

Aeda grinned. "He's really good at that."

"Yeah, he is." Aeda curled one of her legs underneath her. "How about you?"

Aeda made a face. "That depends on who you ask, too. And whether or not you count the months Daniel was dead."

Abbie blinked, not entirely sure what to say. Aeda's entire attitude had suddenly gone cold, as if trying to block out the memory and what Daniel's death had done to her. She decided to go for the humor. "He's really good at that, too."

Aeda wiped a quick tear from her eye, smiling in gratitude as Abbie passed over a box of Kleenex. "Yeah, he's a man of many talents. I was just used to him being back when we ended up here."

Abbie nodded, knowing how she felt. "Well, I think that's why we love him – life's never boring when he's around.

"True." Aeda blew her nose and swept her hair away from her glasses. "Ok, onto less depressing subjects."

"Gladly." Abbie replaced the Kleenex box on her desk, and as such had her back turned when Aeda asked her next question.

"So, have you slept together yet?"

Aeda suppressed a laugh as she watched Abbie's shoulders tighten, then forcibly relax. The silent laughter turned vocal when Aeda saw the look on Abbie's face.

"Oh god, I'm sorry. I just couldn't help it!"

Abbie relaxed a little, recognizing the genuine apology in Aeda's eyes. Still, as much as she already liked Aeda, there were some things that she just couldn't say. Literally – the thought of it made her throat close up a little.

Aeda regarded the now slightly panicked woman in front of her. "What I meant was, it's clear that you're seriously into each other." She gave a tentative smile. "I mean, I'd be the person to know, right?"

Abbie returned the smile. It was true – Aeda and her Daniel had made it obvious that they were in a relationship during the briefing. And they hadn't been shy about it, either – Abbie was sure the other Daniel had bruise marks on his butt thanks to Aeda's wandering hands.

"So, then . . .?" Aeda prompted.

Abbie sighed. _Well, if anyone would understand_ . . . "Would you believe I have nothing to wear?"

"No."

Abbie just shrugged as Aeda's eyes went wide. "Wait, you're serious?"

"Unfortunately." Abbie took a deep breath. "Daniel's my first serious relationship in a very long time. And it's been really, really great. I love being around him, I love working with him, and I love having him there at the end of a horrid day." Abbie sighed. "I'm just nervous about taking that step."

Aeda cleared her throat. "Well, you do know that it's not so much what you're wearing, but what you're _not_-"

"Um, yeah, I know," Abbie interrupted and decided to go for broke. "It's just . . . well, the only other man I've slept with laughed at my underwear."

Aeda had to take a second. Not only had the Daniel in this universe managed to find a slightly shorter, lighter haired and better-sighted version of herself, but they also shared a similar story. She knew Abbie was a friendly but private person – she'd read some of the concisely worded mission reports as proof of this woman's strength and intelligence, holding her own in the face of unknown threats and the usual cast of known Goa'uld. It seemed that Daniel really did have a 'type'. Women who kick ass, take names, and have some serious lingerie issues.

Aeda gave Abbie a serious look. "White or pink?"

Abbie eyed her carefully. "White."

Aeda nodded. "Cotton?"

When Abbie didn't answer, Aeda filled the silence. "Pink. And his name was Jake Eagleton. I had just turned seventeen and he was under my father's command in Naples, Italy. I was distraught and grouchy and pissed off for weeks. I'm pretty sure my Admiral father shipped him off to Antarctica when he figured out what had happened."

Abbie started to figure a few things out. "Then how did you-"

"Get over it?" Aeda knew the discussion might have been about underwear on the surface, but that wasn't the issue. Just like Aeda, Abbie was scared of messing up a good thing – and that worry had manifested itself in an object that really meant little in the grand scheme of things. "Victoria's Secret, mostly." Aeda smiled. "Look, Abbie, if your Daniel is anything like mine, and I suspect he is to a frightening degree, he could care less what you're wearing. You get each other on more than just a physical level, and you both spend half of your life in BDU's as it is. He's far more interested in the stuff that's underneath them."

Abbie may have snorted – she was still pleading the fifth. "He'd probably tease me until I couldn't breathe."

"And he'd take advantage of your weakened state to kiss the crap out of you," Aeda beamed. "It's one of his more admirable qualities."

It was Abbie's turn to shake her head in an attempt to fight off what was dangerously close to being giggles. "I knew there was a reason I kept him around."

"You and me both." Aeda threw one of the couch cushions at Abbie. "What do you say, time for lunch?"

"I think we've bonded sufficiently." Abbie stood up and faked a stretch as she tossed the cushion back at Aeda, catching the corner of the woman's glasses. "I actually wanted to talk with you and your Daniel. I'm giving a lecture at UCCS tonight, and was hoping you guys might like some time outside of the mountain."

"Hell yes!" Aeda exclaimed. "I work in our version of this place too much to spend our whole sort of vacation in it. What's the lecture on?"

"Applications of the Drazin Inverse to the Hill Crypto System."

"Right. Well, at least we'll get some fresh air." Aeda thought for a second. "Will that be ok? I mean, shouldn't we be worried about entropic cascade failure?

Abbie shook her head. "I don't think you need to be. Adam Harrison is different enough from you genetically that Sam and I can't see you being affected. But Daniel – both of them – has been given a new drug Dr. Watson's been working on. She called it something close to a denucleotide inhibitor. A gift from the Asgard, supposed to prevent entropic cascade failure from happening."

"And how are we going to explain two Daniel Jacksons attending such a fascinating lecture?"

"Luck?"

"Ha." Aeda smacked her with the cushion. "Seriously, unless the Daniel Jackson in this universe has an evil twin?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But I wouldn't worry – we've used the drug twice already and have had no problems." Abbie grabbed the cushion and threw it to safety underneath her desk. There was a difference between having fun, and giving the guys who watched the security feed a pillow fight video. "I'll just need to talk with Jack – arrange a little hostage exchange."

"Daniel and I for . . . ?"

"A dozen of my killer brownies, and the access code to the fridge where they keep the whole milk in the commissary."

Aeda nodded her approval. "Nice. Shall we go and collect the Daniels?"

Abbie wrinkled her nose. "That sounds like a band."

It was Aeda's turn to snort. "Aeda, Abbie, and the Daniels – Live at The Black Sheep!"

"We've got to figure out what to call them."

Aeda pondered a range of more, ahem, personal nicknames for a minute. "How about Captain Artifacts and Dr. McDusty?"

Abbie frowned. "My Daniel might actually like that."

"We'll figure it out," Aeda promised.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2?" Abbie suggested as they walked out of her office and towards Daniel's.

"You sure you're not related to Jack?"


	6. Reinventing the Word 'Weird'

_CHAPTER SIX - by Aedammair_

* * *

CHAPTER SIX

_MOVING BACK OVER TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1_

"What the hell do you mean they 'just disappeared'?"

Cameron pulled the phone from his ear and a made a face as Jack O'Neill's voice reverberated in his eardrum. He hadn't expected the General to scream at him…probably because he'd never had the pleasure of being under Jack's command. Across the lab, Sam smiled a somewhat sympathetic smile, though he suspected there was a hint of satisfaction in it.

"We were playi…um, working with one of Colonel Carter's new ancient doohickeys and Daniel was about to translate some of the runes when he and Aeda leaned forward, touched the device, and disappeared in a flash of bright light."

He really wished he'd gone home six hours earlier when General Landry had told them all to go get some sleep. Maybe if he had, it would be Sam getting yelled at instead of him.

"Cameron, I have the utmost respect for you and Sam speaks very highly of you, but you should probably prepare yourself for a kick in the ass when I get out there in sixteen hours. Do I make myself clear, airman?"

He winced and instinctively came to attention. "Yessir."

"Good. Now put Sam on the phone and get the hell out of her lab."

He motioned to Sam and handed over the phone. He was halfway out of the lab when he heard her say in her most exasperated voice, "For christssake, Jack, it isn't like we meant for them to get sucked into another universe…"

He detoured to the mess hall, bumping into Carolyn on his way there. She frowned at him and he wondered just what General Landry was telling everyone on the base. Like Sam had said, it wasn't as though they'd meant for Daniel and Aeda to disappear…

"I know that look. What did I do this time?"

The frown deepened. "The poor man just came back from the dead. Whose idea was it to have him look at that thing?"

He frowned a little himself. "Are you forgetting that Aeda got sucked into it, too?" Carolyn had the decency to look chastised, even if for only a moment. "They've been through a lot in the last three years." He started ticking things off on the fingers of his right hand. "If a kidnapping, death at the hands of an Ori madwoman, Ascension, and the whole coming back from the dead thing haven't created any real problems, do you honestly think a little alternate dimension incident is going to get them killed?"

She stared at him for a minute and he couldn't help but flush a little under the weight of her gaze. When she finally blinked, he was relieved to see the start of a smile quirking at her lips.

"You forgot about her saving your ass a few months ago on that little excursion you and Teal'c took her on."

He smiled, reached out and pulled her close. He kissed her forehead gently. "They're going to be fine and besides, we have bigger problems."

"We do?" she asked as they began to walk towards the mess hall.

"General O'Neill is going to be here in a little under sixteen hours and he's made a serious promise to kick my ass. I'm going to need a safe place to hide."

He was thankful for her laughter. He just hoped they'd get Daniel and Aeda back before the General could make good on his promise.

* * *

_SWITCHING OVER TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

Aeda was trying to come up with a word to describe this new adventure. She'd been through the thesaurus in this Daniel's office twice and had yet to find something that didn't seem too mundane. In fact, she'd been so engrossed in adding to the English language that she'd missed the last fifteen minutes of conversation between the two Daniels and Abbie.

"Aeda?"

She looked up from the page containing 'weird' and frowned at her Daniel. He was smiling slightly, like he usually did when he knew she hadn't been paying attention. Luckily for Aeda, she'd figured this out early and had created a fake look of interest for some of Daniel's more boring diatribes.

Ah, romance.

"Yes, dear?" she said with mock devotion.

Behind him, Abbie snorted slightly.

"What are you doing?"

"Reinventing the word 'weird'. It just doesn't feel descriptive enough for this experience. A trip to the Commons during the summer when all the Goth teenagers are sunbathing in their black long sleeved t-shirts is weird. This is something slightly more…" She shrugged to explain that she didn't have a word.

Abbie had resorted to concealed laughter. Her Daniel was also laughing silently.

Aeda's Daniel was staring at her like she'd lost her mind.

"Are you honestly telling me that you, a Doctor of Theory and a professor at Harvard University, have spent the better part of the last fifteen minutes trying to find a word that best describes this situation and that you've been doing that instead of listening to Dr. Webber's explanation of the lecture she's giving tonight?"

The look of complete and utter disbelief on his face was so adorable that Aeda couldn't help but smile sweetly at him.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you."

"I think I came back from the dead a little too soon…" he muttered to himself and both Abbie and her Daniel erupted in outright laughter.

Jack arrived in the doorway at that precise moment and something tugged in Aeda's chest. He looked a little younger than her Jack O'Neill, a little happier. There wasn't as much grey in his sideburns and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes weren't as deep. She smiled at him and was surprised to see him smile back with the same kind smile she was used to.

"I decided it was time to do some investigating," Jack said to her as he came into the room. "I was a little surprised when you told me your name was Harrison, it struck a chord and I only just realized why." Aeda waited for the remainder of the explanation. Jack didn't disappoint. "I knew a Belvedere Harrison a long, long time ago."

"I'm Belvedere's daughter." His left eyebrow went up a slightly and it reminded her of Teal'c. "Well, at least in my universe I'm Belvedere's daughter."

"I should have known. Bell's favorite kind of pie was blackberry, too." His smile stayed put but she saw a shadow of sadness in his eyes. "It's good to hear he's still alive and kicking in your universe."

She tried not to show how much the idea of her father being dead and gone affected her. If this Jack was as perceptive as her own, chances were he saw it anyway.

"Well, Aeda, we've got the best people on base working on getting you and your Daniel back home as soon as possible. In the meantime, I hear you're headed to Dr. Webber's stimulating lecture this evening."

She smiled. "If by stimulating, you mean incredibly over my head, then yes, I think that's the plan."

He laughed a little. In the silence that ensued, they both became aware of the fact that three pairs of eyes were staring at them, gauging their reactions to each other. It reminded Aeda a little of the time she walked into her kitchen in her underwear, her arm in a sling.

"Did Aeda tell you I Googled her and that she's a man in this universe?" Abbie asked the alternate Daniel and Aeda could have kissed her for the break in tension it brought to the room.

"We just assumed you girls were pillow fighting while we talked shop," Abbie's Daniel lazily mentioned from his corner of the lab.

"Wait, you're a man in this universe?" Aeda's Daniel asked and she nodded with a crooked smile. He quirked an eyebrow. "Pillow fighting?" he asked.

She smiled. "If you're a very good boy, I'll tell you all about it later on." She patted his cheek affectionately for good measure.

"It'll have to wait," Jack said, glancing at his watch. "You've got a lecture to get to." He waved in their general direction and headed to the door. On his way there, though, he paused in front of Aeda and, in a somewhat awkward moment during which time he couldn't decide where to put his hand, squeezed her shoulder very slightly. "Tell Bell I said hello when you get home."

She covered his hand with her own and smiled, nodded. "I will," she said and he nodded his thanks before heading out the door.

"Alright, troops, we're off to see the wizard," Abbie said with a smile.

"You realize you just referred to yourself as the Wizard," her Daniel said with a small smile.

"Just be glad I didn't call you Toto."

Their banter continued out into the hallway and Aeda just barely caught an obscure Star Wars reference before her own Daniel invaded her personal space and kissed her senseless. It only lasted a few seconds, but it made her want to drag him off into a closet and make up for lost time.

"I've wanted to do that all day," he said as he helped her down from the lab table.

She grinned a patented Aeda Harrison grin and took his free hand. They hesitated just slightly before joining their counterparts in the hallway.

"You're handling this very well," he said to her.

She smiled. "You're alive and well and corporeal, and if I'm very lucky you're going to stay that way for a long time." She kissed him gently and took his free hand in her hers. "Alternate universes be damned – as long as I'm here with you, nothing else matters."

"That reminds me, what did you do with Bear when you left Boston?" he asked as they headed out to the hallway to join Abbie and her Daniel.

She paused slightly and smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Dammit! I knew I was forgetting something."

* * *

_RIGHT, BACK OVER TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1_

If he'd been a gay paratrooper, Jack O'Neill would have arrived in Sam's office with a definite flourish. Perhaps even a flounce. As it was, he'd arrived ten minutes earlier, had swept Sam off her stool, and had kissed the hell out of her in front of the security cameras and, as Sam pointed out later on, whoever was passing in the hallway because he forgot to shut the door.

"So tell me again what happened?" Jack asked from across the lab table. Sam declined to look up for the pure reason that looking at him made her want to forget about helping Aeda and Daniel get back to their universe.

It didn't stop her, however, from knowing that he was messing with something he shouldn't be messing with.

"First of all, put that down." The clatter of metal on metal made her smile. "Second of all, this lovely device is the cause of all our problems at the moment." She looked up and he was smiling at her. It took her a few seconds to remember what it was she was going to say, which just made him smile even wider. "When we got back from picking Daniel up, SG-3 had brought it back and it was waiting for us. All we knew for certain was that it was Ancient, but beyond that…"

Jack nodded and stared at the small device. As devices go, it wasn't all that complex looking. Just a flat disk with a slightly raised center and a series of markings – Sam had called them runes when she'd spoken to him on the phone – around the outer edge. Nope, not complex at all.

He wondered what would happen if he touched it.

"Don't even think about it, Jack," Sam said in a voice that reminded him of the time he almost pushed the shiny red button because it just looked so inviting. "If you touch that thing and it activates because of your Ancient gene and you get sucked into some alternate universe, I can promise you that if you ever make it back there's no way in hell you're getting any for a long time."

Well, then.

"Well at least we know that Aeda has the gene, which could come in handy if I'm not around to save the world's ass from an alien invasion."

She smiled and sat down, suddenly tired. He reached out and took hold of her hand, squeezed it.

"You look like hell, hon."

She laughed. "It's been a long few days. First finding Daniel and then this…sometimes, my job kind of sucks."

He nodded, grinned slightly. "But we always come out of it in the end. It's what we do best…we'd probably be horrible at anything else." She laughed. "Alright, so I'd be horrible at anything else and you'd be good at absolutely everything, but you get the point."

"I just hope they're okay," she said.

"I'm sure they're fine. It does beg the question, though."

She cocked her head to the side and frowned. "What's that?"

"Who's taking care of Bear?"

It took Sam a minute to comprehend what he was saying, but when she did her mouth opened in surprise.

"Shit."

Jack laughed and went over to the phone on the wall. He dialed a few numbers and turned to watch her as he spoke into the phone.

"Hey, Bell, it's your favorite Air Force General…don't be rude, it's unbecoming. Look, your daughter had to come out to Colorado on pretty short notice and she didn't have a chance to find someone to look after Bear. Could you have your son run over to her place and pick up the dog?...Uh huh, everything's fine. Just a minor physics problem that she was perfect for…No, it shouldn't be more than a few days. I'll call you if it's going to be…No…" At this, he turned away from Sam and she could just barely make out his next few words. "No…marriage…when…saving the universe."

This made her laugh and she waited for him to finish his conversation with Bell. When he hung up the phone, he looked a little embarrassed.

"Bell says hello," he said.

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "I'd gathered as much."

"How do you feel about pie?" he asked, not so subtly changing the subject.

She smiled. "Love it."

"Good. I'm going to go get us some pie. You keep working."

She grinned as she watched him leave and then settled in to run some more tests on the device.


	7. Take Me To Your Purple

_CHAPTER SEVEN - by Verb_

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN

_AGAIN WITH ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"_Breathe_."

Abbie turned around and managed to return Daniel's smile as he walked into the backstage area. "I _am_ breathing." He shot her a look. "I am! I'm just nervous and I can't find my pen and I think I might fall off of these shoes I knew I should have worn runners, heels always make me feel lopsided and I'm babbling and it would be really bad for me to throw up on my audience, right?"

A smirk overtook Daniel's features as he took Abbie's cold hands in his. "Well, yes. Unless you were planning on an in-person demonstration of the brute force attack theory. That might be considered metaphorical overkill."

"Right," Abbie nodded absently.

"Hey," he said softly, grasping Abbie's chin so her eyes met his. "Don't be nervous about this – your notes are bulletproof, I set up your Keynote with the tech guys, and you know this speech better than Teal'c knows his flavors of Ben & Jerry's. It's going to be fine."

Abbie gave him a real smile, the one that reached her eyes and made her nose crinkle. "You're right. But I haven't given a lecture to more than six people in a long time, since I left the UN, really. And it's been even longer since I discussed my non-classified cryptography research with someone besides you."

Daniel frowned. "You talk to me about your non-classified cryptography research?"

Abbie smacked him on the arm. "Don't start!"

Daniel rubbed his rapidly forming bruise and tried to look thoughtful. "Wait, I remember, is this the talk about the Drano reverse to the Hippo system, right?"

"Daniel."

"The one that took you months to design an algorithm for and took Bill only two seconds to sit on your keyboard and convert into Hungarian?"

"_Daniel_."

"And then the only message you could get out of it for weeks was 'Take Me To Your Purple'?"

"Smartass."

"But you love me."

"That I do." Abbie wrapped a hand around Daniel's neck and brought his face close enough to place a quick kiss on his lips. "And thank you. I feel a little less nervous."

He slid his arms around Abbie's waist. "Anytime."

"Besides," Abbie continued, picking nervously at the invisible lint on the shoulder of his jacket, "practically no one shows up to these talks - it's not like the place is going to be packed."

"Wow, is this place ever packed!" Aeda Harrison announced as she pushed aside the curtain that prevented the audience from seeing backstage.

Daniel sighed and loosened his hold on the slightly (mostly) nervous cryptologist. "That woman has a horrible sense of timing."

"Comedic, but horrible," Abbie agreed.

"I'd argue against that, but given how I ended up in this universe . . . " Aeda let the sentence drift off as she wandered over to Abbie's side. "Nervous?"

"Just a little," Abbie squeezed Daniel's hand. "But I'm always worried before I give a lecture. Then I walk out onto the stage and I feel totally relaxed."

"Yeah, you get over that nervousness pretty fast as a professor and move on to more important things," Aeda let loose a wicked smile. "Like taunting your TA in the middle of a lecture on the fuel-thrust ratio."

Abbie and Daniel broke into laugher, Daniel managing to recover first. "And I thought some of my supervisors were cruel!"

Aeda shrugged. "At least I never made any of my students cry."

Daniel turned to look at Abbie just as her eyes went wide. "You made someone cry?" he asked, somewhat incredulous.

"I take the abuse of the semi-colon very seriously!" Abbie defended herself and leveled a glare at Aeda, who in the short time they had know each other, had developed a sense of when she was kidding.

"Canada's very tough about the abuse of grammar." Aeda explained.

"It's in their Charter." Daniel agreed solemnly as he caught on.

"Where's Daniel?" Abbie asked in an attempt to shift the conversation.

Aeda gestured towards the audience. "He managed to snag us two seats near the left side of the stage." She walked towards the curtain, twitched it aside and gestured for Abbie and Daniel to take a look. "He's wearing the-"

"Blue hat!" Abbie and Daniel blurted out at the same time.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Aeda was curious – both had blushed when they saw what her Daniel was wearing, and she never missed a good story.

"That hat has some history," Abbie admitted. "Did Teal'c lend it to you?"

"Yeah." Aeda gave her a wary look. "Why."

"It was partially responsible for saving my life once." Daniel pulled back the curtain. "Teal'c is obviously starting to grasp the concept of irony, trying to hide someone in a hat that can be seen from space."

Aeda raised one of her eyebrows. "Indeed."

Abbie's face lit up. "I knew that would be consistent across the universes!"

"Doctor Webber?"

All three turned to see a dark haired boy with a clipboard in his hand and an earpiece hanging loose over his shoulder poke his head into the backstage area. "Five minutes."

"Thank you, David." Abbie took a big breath and smoothed down the front of the tailored suit jacket she was wearing for the first time.

"Stop twitching, you'll wrinkle," Aeda swatted Abbie's hands from her clothes. "And you were right - black was the right color."

Daniel looked between the two women. "You've already been shopping together? Where was I?"

Abbie started to organize her notes with a shrug. "I made the mistake of telling Aeda I had nothing to wear. She took me a little too literally."

"Nothing soothes a girl's stage fright like a brilliantly cut pinstripe," Aeda countered. "Besides, it's not like you had to pay for it - who knew your mild mannered archeologist would have a Black Card."

Daniel took a moment to consider his reaction. He wouldn't have put it past Aeda to reach into his wallet to grab his credit card – his 'twin' had wordlessly confirmed Aeda's zeal for a certain part of his anatomy when he had sat down in the car with a wince - but Abbie wouldn't have let the other woman charge a fortune on his card. He'd tried to take Abbie out shopping before and had always been met with a furious blush and a humorous comment that changed the subject. It gave him the distinct impression something more was going on, but he didn't want to push. He was glad Aeda had been able to drag her out for some new clothes – her usual work clothes were fine, but this lecture was important to her and Daniel would have paid anything to give her the confidence he knew she had to make this lecture a success. Besides, Abbie preferred using her own Black Card – her limit was higher.

Still shuffling through her notes, Abbie hid a small smile at the look of slight panic on Daniel's face as he absently placed his hand on his back right pocket. "Daniel?"

He shook his head to clear it. "I was just trying to figure out if Aeda ever did any work as a pickpocket?"

Aeda made a zipping motion over her lips. "We should get going, let you have a few minutes to yourself." She pulled Daniel with her towards the curtain, ready to make their way down into the audience. "Some advice? When you feel like you can't breath and the room starts moving in on you?"

Abbie nodded.

"Imagine everyone in their underwear."

Abbie stared long after Aeda and Daniel had disappeared into the audience. _What was it with that woman and underwear?_

* * *

"…and as you can see, without this particular algorithm, the Drazin Inverse would have been completely resistant to a brute force approach, making it impossible to achieve a coherent plaintext."

Abbie clicked over to the next slide in her presentation, all of the nervous energy focused into what she thought was a pretty good lecture. Adea hadn't been kidding when she said the place was packed – every seat was filled, and a few stragglers had sat down on the carpet that blanketed the aisles. She could see Daniel, sitting just off centre and smirking his "I told you you could do it" smile, and Aeda and her Daniel, blue hat a beacon in the crowd, shooting her the thumbs up. She took a deep breath and continued her prepared notes.

"Now, the Hill Crypto System, and not the Hippo system, as some may call it," she paused for a scattering of laughter, "is an interesting twist on the classic, or secret key cryptosystems that makes use of the Kerckhoffs principle."

As Abbie launched into the second half of her lecture, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Daniel quietly rose from his seat and she followed his movement with her eyes until he slipped out the door and into the hall. Taking a pause to drink from the glass of water on the podium, another flurry of activity involving a blue hat broke out in the audience and suddenly David was waving frantically at her to get backstage.

"Ah, ladies and gentleman, I'd like to take a short coffee break before we dive into the finer points of the Shannon's maxim. I have a feeling we could all use the caffeine." As the noise of hundreds of conversations starting at once filled the lecture hall, Abbie walked off stage as quickly as possible and into the worried gaze of David the stagehand. "What's going on?"

David shifted in place, clearly upset. "Doctor Jackson collapsed. He asked me if there was a medic on site, and then he just sort of fell over."

Panic started to rise in Abbie's mind, but if anything the SGC had trained her to handle an emergency – solve the problem now, cry like a little girl later. "Where is he?"

David made a jerky motion with his hand that Abbie guessed was her cue to follow him. Cursing the heels Aeda had talked her into with each step, she shadowed David's path to the small classroom that had served as a greenroom. She stopped at the doorframe in a slight shock, greeted with the sight of not one but two Daniels lying on the ground, eyes closed in mirror images of pain.

Aeda walked quickly over to Abbie and pulled her into the room by her elbow. "Halfway through your lecture Daniel started feeling sick to his stomach and then he just doubled over. I rushed him out of the audience and had to do some quick explaining to the medical personnel when we met up with McDusty over there who looked just as pale."

Abbie nodded her head as she absorbed the facts and waved all of the medical personnel out of the room. Explaining two Daniel Jacksons to strangers was one thing – trying to explain it to her fellow speakers who had met Daniel before the lecture series had started was another.

"I told the EMT's they were twins who suffered from near simultaneous kidney stone attacks. I'm not sure if they believed me, but they went with it enough to administer some pain medication." Aeda continued. "I spoke with Jack, and he's arranging for the Prometheus to beam us up then directly to the infirmary at the SGC, should only be a few more minutes. Any idea what this could be?"

"About a million," Abbie said as she sunk down to the ground on her knees next to her Daniel, gently pulling his hand into her lap. "And at the top of my list is the injection they both received to prevent entropic cascade failure."

"It didn't work." Aeda sank to the ground beside her, suddenly weak as the knowledge spun through her brain. "Crap."

Abbie gave her a grim smile. "Exactly."


	8. Aeda Doesn't Live Here Anymore

_CHAPTER EIGHT - by Aedammair_

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT

_STILL RESTING IN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

When she was a little girl, Aeda would close her eyes in times of stress and wish for a cease fire. It only ever worked once in awhile, but just those few incidents led her to believe she had the power to control the outcome of her own life. At least until the day she wished for a brownie sundae and ended up with a little brother instead.

With the sound of dual heart monitors ringing in her ears, Aeda closed her eyes and wished for a cease fire.

The base medical doctor had done all he could, but the effects of entropic cascade failure were immediate and fast moving and unless she and her Daniel got back to their universe within the next few hours, she'd lose him all over again – and Abbie would lose her Daniel as well. Not a particularly good outcome for what had been a nice vacation.

"When's the last time you ate anything?" Abbie asked from the doorway and Aeda turned away from Daniel long enough to shake her head.

"I haven't been hungry," she said with a small smile. "Panic and chaos tend to kill my appetite."

She didn't see Abbie's frown, mostly because she had turned back to watch the steady rise and fall of her Daniel's unconscious chest, but she heard it in the younger woman's voice.

"Sam and Dr. Lee have made progress. They were able to shift a small probe into a different universe."

That was progress – a day ago, they couldn't even turn it on.

"But?" she asked.

Abbie moved across the room and stopped at the foot of the hospital bed. Aeda watched her glance over her own Daniel before looking once more at Aeda.

"But the universe it landed in wasn't all that hospitable."

Aeda laughed bitterly. "Of course not. Nothing is ever that easy around here."

"They'll keep trying, Aeda," Abbie said. Aeda said nothing and she could almost feel the frustration radiating off Abbie. She waited for the snap and when it came, she sat quietly and let Abbie rant. "This isn't just about you and your Daniel, Aeda," Abbie said with a sternness neither woman knew she possessed. "My Daniel is dying in a bed across the room and yet, instead of helping, you're sitting here, wallowing in self pity like a child."

"I know, Abbie."

She felt Abbie's eyes on her and she looked up at the crypto-linguist. There was disappointment and defeat on Abbie's pretty face and Aeda hated herself just a little for having caused it.

"This isn't the Aeda I was told about," she said and Aeda blinked at tears. "This isn't the Aeda that defeated Ba'al with a shovel and got shot in the process. This isn't the great and amazing independent woman I met 24 hours ago."

Aeda sighed. "You don't know the whole story…" she started but Abbie interrupted her.

"I know enough, Aeda," she said and Aeda's own frustration snapped.

"I've been through this once!" Aeda said loudly, getting to her feet so quickly the chair clattered backwards. The sound echoed against the solemn quiet of the infirmary. "Twice if you count my first husband."

Aeda watched as some of the wind was sucked from Abbie's sails and she faltered slightly. "You were married?"

Aeda took her arm and propelled them both out into the hallway, away from the beeping monitors and the silence of an infirmary preparing for doom. She walked until she felt like stopping and she pulled Abbie into an office with her, shut the door behind them, and faced the younger woman.

"My husband died from cancer at 28. I was barely 24 at the time and I didn't think I'd ever recover. When I met Daniel, I saw hope in him. I saw hope that I'd finally be able to move past Tom's death and when Daniel asked me to marry him, I saw my future. At no point in time, did I see Daniel dying at the hands of the Ori, or ascending to a higher plane of existence – a higher plane that wouldn't allow him to see me more than once."

She took a deep breath and felt the grief rattle in her lungs. Abbie stared at her, silent tears streaming down her cheeks, but the younger woman didn't speak.

"The strong and independent woman you were told about, the one who Daniel cherishes and admires, doesn't live here anymore." She poked herself in the chest, her index finger hitting her sternum with a painful, hollow sound. "She's bitter and she's tired and she's resigned herself to loss because it's what gets her through the day."

She leaned back against the door and let her head hit the metal. She'd been holding that speech inside since the day Daniel left her for good, the January air howling at the windows of her apartment. She'd spent the better part of the last year pretending she was okay because she needed Cameron and the others to let her be. She'd even managed to convince herself that she was…until she saw Daniel in that hospital bed on the Odyssey and realized she'd been holding her breath for two years.

She pushed off the door and sighed. "I'm sorry, Abbie," she said and was saved from further commentary by the bone crushing hug the younger woman pulled her into.

"I didn't know," Abbie sobbed into her shoulder and Aeda wondered why it was that Abbie was the one crying. Aeda's eyes were bone dry, though she suspected it was from resignation instead of lack of emotion. "I didn't know."

Aeda smoothed her hair and let her cry, aware of the fact that they were both in the same situation. For the second time in an hour, she closed her eyes and she wished for a cease fire.

* * *

_ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1_

The runes flashed and Sam glared at Jack.

"I swear to God, Jack, if you get sucked into that thing…" She let her voice trail off, the unspoken threat hanging in the air.

Jack held up a hand. "Believe it or not, Carter, I think I know what I'm doing."

She took a couple of steps closer, eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Are you serious or are you trying to backpedal?"

He grinned. "I'm serious." He pointed to the runes. "The gene is translating them for me. It's kind of weird, like when Chewbacha growls and Han Solo knows exactly what the big guy is saying." He made a Wookie noise to prove his point.

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Jack O'Neill to make a Stars Wars reference during a crisis.

"So what are the runes for, Mr. Wizard?"

At this his grin grew exponentially. "They're gate addresses."

Her blue eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

She took a moment to process that information. If the device was covered in gate addresses, she could technically use the same program they used to decipher recently used addresses on the DHDs. And if she could do that, then…

"So all I have to do is find out what the last address was and we can dial Aeda and Daniel up?"

Jack shrugged. "That's your department, hot stuff, but if you happen to get them on the wireless could you ask them to pick up some pizza? I'm starving."

* * *

_AND BACK OVER TO ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"They're gate addresses!" Sam shouted as she rounded the corner and raced into the infirmary. Abbie and Aeda, both of whom had wandered back into the infirmary a few minutes earlier after their heart-to-heart in the office down the hall, turned to look at the visitor with confusion. Sam took a deep breath. "The symbols on the device. They're gate addresses."

The little part of Aeda that didn't believe in hope anymore died a quiet death and she felt herself beginning to smile.

Abbie looked at Aeda, still confused. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Aeda grinned widely as Sam motioned for them to follow her. She held her hand out and Abbie took it as they raced behind Sam down the corridor.

"It means," she said as she squeezed Abbie's hand, "we hit the redial button."

She didn't see it, but Abbie's smile was so bright it could have lit the entire SGC.


	9. If Only It Was A Tardis

_CHAPTER NINE - by Verb_

* * *

CHAPTER NINE

_STILL SITTING IN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"Back to the scene of the crime."

Abbie's eyes rolled involuntarily, but she was secretly happy that Aeda was making jokes. The two women had been through the emotional wringer, and if Aeda was being even the least bit sarcastic, it meant that she was starting to crawl out of the very dark place Daniel's death, past and (hopefully not) future, had created. It also meant that Aeda was as wary about Sam and Dr. Lee's plan as Abbie. Sam was a brilliant scientist and Abbie trusted her as much as one could trust a theoretical astrophysicist who happened to save her ass on a semi-regular basis. But years spent at the SGC had taught her to have a healthy mistrust for anything shiny, covered in 'gate symbols, and/or giving off an electromagnetic field all by itself.

Settling down into her seat, Abbie noted how strange it felt to be at the briefing room table without Daniel by her side. She turned to Aeda to say something along the lines of her having the wrong glasses on, but the look on Aeda's face made her stop and grab the woman's hand instead, giving it a quick squeeze. The touch seemed to snap Aeda back into the present, curving her mouth into a small smile. "Bet you're used to a brunette with different glasses sitting here, huh?"

Abbie smiled. "I am – and pretty soon he's going to be kicking you out of that chair himself."

Aeda returned the squeeze as Dr. Lee rushed through the door, red faced and slightly rumpled. He was closely followed by Sam, Teal'c and Jack, who looked less frazzled and more like people who owned irons.

"Ladies," Jack said graciously as he and Teal'c dropped into their seats while Sam and Dr. Lee started to set up the computer. "Carter tells me we may have found a way to get everyone back to the universe they belong too." He gestured at Sam to start with the confusing technobable.

Sam nodded at Dr. Lee, who made the giant projection screen blink to life. "As you know, SG-12 recovered an small object from P3X-577 that has been emitting a low level electromagnetic field."

"Strike one." Abbie held one finger in the air.

"And, from what we could tell, was covered in symbols that no one in the anthropology, archaeology, or cryptography departments has been able to translate." Sam continued.

"Strike two."

"But we think the major portion of the text is irrelevant in this case." Sam waited for the inevitable objection from Daniel, but it never came. Shocked back to reality when she realized she was waiting for something that wouldn't come, Sam continued with her explanation. "Now, as you'll remember from the email memo-"

"Ah, sorry," Jack lifted a finger in the air. "Memo?"

"An electronic document intended to provide detailed information on a range of subjects that is accessible via a computer or personal digital assistant," Teal'c informed Jack as the three women in the room tried to cover their snickering.

Jack ran his hand through his hair, trying to decide if the Jaffa was joking or not. It was getting harder and harder to tell. "Yeah, thanks for clearing that up, T."

Teal'c moved his head into a slight bow. "You are welcome, O'Neill."

"Are you still not getting your memos, sir?" Sam completely failed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"What, are they getting lost in all those 'enhance your manhood' emails?" Aeda asked.

Abbie snorted. "Either that or he's mixing them up with the Simpson's 'Quote A Day' emails."

"So that's why you leave for your office every day at noon," Sam mock frowned.

"Hey, who's got the stars on his shoulders?" Jack threw up his hands. "Let's get back to the briefing, shall we?"

Sam smiled. "Gladly, sir."

"And for the record," Jack pointed at Aeda, "I don't need any 'enhancements' to my manhood, my truck's hood, or any other kind of hood, ok?"

Adea gave him a sweet smile. "Of course you don't."

As much as she was enjoying seeing Aeda with a (slightly) evil smile instead of the grim line that had graced her mouth not hours before, Abbie decided it was time to steer the conversation back to the part where they saved the day and everybody lived. "Sam, you said something about a gate address?"

"Yes." Sam turned back to the computer and gestured at Dr. Lee, who promptly typed a short sequence and changed the projection screen to a close up of the small, silver object. "Bill and I noticed that, sandwiched between what we assume to be text is-"

"It's a nine chevron gate address!" Bill interrupted excitedly. "See, we think that, like when General O'Neill dialed the Asgard home world with an eight chevron to add a distance that was far outside our own galaxy, the ninth symbol seems to allow for jumps between time or to differentiate parallel points in different realities."

Abbie nodded. "So, it's like a temporal address – dial this sequence of symbols and the gate throws you back to the universe you came from?"

"With two minutes to spare." Sam confirmed.

Abbie sat back and looked at Aeda. Sam and Bill may have the only viable option to get Aeda and Daniel back home, but there was no guarantee it was going to work. The official decision might be Jack's but he wasn't going to do anything that Aeda didn't agree to. "What do you think?"

Aeda shrugged. "I think that the ninth symbol turns the stargate into a TARDIS."

To the surprise of everyone at the table, Teal'c twitched his lips into a smile.

"Well, If David Tennant steps though the event horizon when you and Daniel leave, I won't be complaining." Abbie's grin slowly faded, and she switched to biting her lip. This was the kind of decision she hated to make – there were too many possibilities and far too little information.

Aeda drew in a sharp breath. "Look, the bottom line is that we need to get back to our universe before my Daniel's presence here caused his and your Daniel's death. We have no idea what our SGC has been able to do, and even if they do have any ideas, they might not work from their side of the fence." Aeda looked directly at Sam. "Am I right in assuming this is going to drain a significant amount of power?"

"I've got three naquadah enhanced generators on standby, but they're going to take a beating," Sam admitted.

"Then I'm sorry that it's going to be risky, but I don't see any other option. Staying here is killing Daniel." Aeda leveled her gaze at Jack. "And I won't let him, either of them, die here. Not after everything they've been through."

Abbie grabbed and squeezed Aeda's hand, fighting back tears and nodding her agreement.

"Ok." Jack's voice was rough with emotion as he nodded at Sam. "Light it up."


	10. Stop Touching Weird Alien Devices

_CHAPTER TEN - by Aedammair_

* * *

CHAPTER TEN

_AND EVEN MORE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2_

"So it's fairly simple," Sam said with what Aeda could only describe as a grim smile. When she caught Aeda's eye, the Colonel shrugged. "Let me rephrase that. It's fairly simple for you and me."

Aeda laughed lightly. "We touch the device and, if all goes right, we get sent back to our SGC and arrive approximately two minutes there before we left here."

"Give or take a few seconds and light years."

"And if you've calibrated the machine correctly, we won't arrive as puddles of goo."

Sam grinned. "Right."

Aeda turned a slightly panicked smile on Sam. "Please tell me you calibrated this thing correctly because as much as I enjoy a good Guinness I'd rather not be turned into something of the same consistency."

"We're good," Sam said with a calming smile.

"Thank god."

She left Sam alone to finish getting things set for their departure and wandered aimlessly through the halls until she found Abbie sitting in Daniel's office, reading something that looked like it had once been covered in a thick layer of dust. She looked up when Aeda entered the office.

"Ready to go?" she asked and Aeda nodded.

"Just about. Sam's putting the finishing touches on the calibration and then we should be ready." Abbie nodded and Aeda noticed the distant look in her eye. "I'm not one for sentimental moments, Abbie, but it needs to be said. I'm going to miss you."

Abbie grinned and wiped at her eyes. "I'm going to miss you, too."

Aeda reached into the pocket of her plaid canvas coat and pulled out a small package, one that she'd been holding onto since their shopping excursion two days earlier. She crossed the office and set it down in front of Abbie. When the younger woman reached for it, Aeda stopped her hands with her own. Abbie looked down at them and noticed, for the first time, that the periodot ring Aeda had arrived wearing on a chain around her neck was now stationed on the ring finger of her left hand. It made Abbie's heart warm to think that Aeda might actually get the happy ending she deserved.

"Your ring…" she started and Aeda smiled.

"Never mind the ring," she said and pointed to the package. "Don't open that just yet. Wait until after we're gone." On impulse, she reached forward and gave Abbie a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered, "for everything."

Abbie nodded into Aeda's shoulder. "You're welcome. After all, what are friends for?"

* * *

"Okay, Aeda, all set?" Jack's tone was a little more flippant than the expression on his face, but Aeda ignored the seriousness that had descended over the infirmary when they'd arrived a few minutes earlier. She nodded and smiled.

"As nice as it's been, I'm ready to go home."

"Me too," Daniel said softly from beside her. He had woken up fifteen minutes or so earlier and had demanded that he stand while being sent home. Aeda, always sarcastic, had demanded that he either lose a hundred pounds or support his own weight. His laugh, though hoarse and soft, had been music to her ears.

"Well we won't keep you, then. Carter, if you please."

Sam passed Aeda a slip of paper with the gate symbols written on it and motioned to the device. "Just hit the symbols and make sure you're both touching it at the same time. Good luck."

"Thanks," Aeda said and handed the paper to Daniel. "Pull your weight, bookworm."

"You were so much nicer when you thought I was dying."

"Thankfully, you're very much alive. Now hold still while I get us out of here."

She smiled at Abbie – who smiled back and waved slightly – and hit the symbols. As Daniel's fingertips touched the device, she felt herself get pulled from the room as though she'd just been yanked forward. She closed her eyes against it and held on tightly to Daniel.

* * *

_ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1 ENDING_

"I think I've got it. Just let me grab one of the field monitors…"

Sam turned her back to the table with the device on it for two seconds to get a calibration instrument. In two seconds, three things happened: the room lit up with a bright flash of light, Jack called out and tipped over backwards in his chair, and Aeda's voice echoed off the walls as she said something that sounded very much like 'Holy shit, Batman!'.

She turned around to find Aeda supporting Daniel and standing in the middle of the room. Jack was still on his back on the floor and the device was smoldering like a recently extinguished cigarette, a burn radius surrounding it on the metal table.

"Hiya, Daniel," Jack said from the floor.

"Hey, Jack," Daniel said with a small smile. "Good to see you."

"Seriously?" Sam said, her voice loud and somewhat annoyed. Three sets of startled eyes looked at her, one from the floor. "I was literally two minutes away from getting the redial button to work."

"There's a temporal delay," Aeda explained as she helped Daniel into a chair. "Negative two minutes from when we left that universe and arrived in this one." She grinned at Sam. "So, technically, in a parallel timeline, you did hit the redial button. We just arrived shortly before it happened in this one." She made an infinity motion with her forefinger. "Time is bendy, remember?"

"I hate time travel," Sam said disgustedly.

"Um, not to be a burden or anything, but could someone help an old man up off the floor?"

They all stared at Jack, who was lying on the floor with his arms crossed and a waiting expression on his face. Aeda giggled slightly and Sam began to as well. Soon even Daniel was laughing and Sam was doubled over, laughing until her sides hurt. If Jack was bothered by the fact that his goddaughter, his best friend, and the love of his life were laughing hysterically at him, he didn't let it show.

He did, however, kiss Sam squarely on the mouth when he was standing upright again, just to hush her up.

* * *

Doctor Lam cleared them after an hour of sharp needles and stern lectures that consisted mostly of 'stop touching weird alien devices and getting sucked into parallel dimensions'. Aeda didn't bother to mention that this was her first trip to such a place, mostly because the look on Carolyn's face begged no arguments.

"Do you think Abbie exists in this universe?" Aeda asked as she buttoned her shirt and pulled her coat on. She mentally thanked the other universe's Daniel for the kind gift of new clothes his Black Card had given her.

Daniel shrugged. "It's a possibility. Are you thinking of trying to find her?"

"Maybe."

"She might not be the same person as the Abbie you met, her experiences would be very different…"

"I know," Aeda said and took his hand as they headed towards the door of the infirmary. "But it's still worth a shot."

"Well, after we take a little vacation from all things weird, I'll start asking around."

They paused just inside the door and Aeda turned to him. "Have I told you how very happy I am that you're alive?" she asked and stood on tiptoes to kiss him.

He grinned against her mouth. "Many times, though your hands did most of the talking."

She laughed and they stepped into the hallway. They had just rounded the corner, headed towards the elevators, when they ran into Cameron. He looked so much like a sad little puppy in need of a hug that Aeda immediately threw her arms around him and squeezed tightly without a single teasing word. Daniel had to laugh at the relief on his face.

"This is new," Daniel said with a smile and Aeda grinned at him.

"He's practically my brother," Aeda said.

"That's an unfortunate relation…" he trailed off as she smacked his arm. "Ow."

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened," Cameron started, but Aeda stopped him with a raised hand.

"Let's establish this right now, so there won't be any future misunderstandings. What happened wasn't anyone's fault. We touched the damn thing without knowing what it did and, to be honest, it wasn't all together that horrible of a trip." Daniel coughed lightly beside her and she frowned. "Beyond the entropic cascade failure thing, it was actually a really nice vacation."

Cameron smiled. "Well the drinks are still on me. Barbeque at my place tomorrow afternoon?"

Daniel nodded. "We'll be there."

"Go get some sleep, Danny. You look like hell." Cameron grinned once more for good measure before heading towards what they both guessed was the infirmary.

Daniel looked at Aeda. "Do I really look that bad?" he asked.

She grinned and patted his cheek. "We both do. Shower, then bed."

"Whose bed?" he asked as they walked down the hallway toward the living quarters.

"Yours."

"And, just for clarification purposes, whose shower?"

She grinned at him, the kind of grin that conveyed a thousand words with a single quirk of the lips, and he noticed the mischievous glint in her eye. If he was very lucky, which previous events had declared him to be, he'd spend the rest of his life getting that mischievous look. He tried for a lascivious leer…and it earned him a peel of laughter that was music to his ears.

Some days, it very much paid to be alive.


	11. How Do You Feel About Closets?

_CHAPTER ELEVEN - by Verb_

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN

_ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2 ENDING_

"Hey."

The familiar voice caused Abbie to spin around in her chair, dropping her pencil on the floor in the process. "What are you doing here?" she asked, a little incredulous.

Daniel slowly shuffled into his office, closing the door behind him. "Is that any way to talk to a man who was in a coma only a few hours ago?" he teased as he brushed a kiss on Abbie's forehead.

"Good point," Abbie admitted as she tried to retrieve the pencil with the toes of her right foot so that she wouldn't have to look away from the man who she had come dangerously close to losing. "But as the woman who stood by your bed ridden comatose self, I think I deserve an answer."

Daniel pretended to be in deep thought. "Because this is my office?"

"Smartass."

Daniel clutched his hands to his chest in mock pain as he collapsed on the couch. "Ow! That hurts!"

Abbie rolled her eyes.

"No, really." Daniel reached behind him and extracted a small wrapped box. "This yours?"

"Apparently." Abbie gave a small smile. "Aeda dropped it off before she and Daniel made their way back to their universe."

Daniel shook the box, trying to figure out what was inside.

"Hey, stop that!" Abbie reached out for the gift and instead found Daniel's hand wrapped around hers, pulling her onto his lap.

"Much better," Daniel sighed as he wrapped an arm around her waist and sank deeper into the cushions.

"I'm still annoyed with you."

"I'm ok with that."

Abbie snorted. "You would be. You broke out of the infirmary and have me sitting on your lap. What else could you possibly want?"

"Aeda and Daniel gave me a few ideas," Daniel grinned, leaning in so his breath brushed right against her ear. "How do you feel about closets?"

"Flexible," Abbie teased and wrestled the box from Daniel's suddenly loose grip. She turned the simply wrapped package over in her hands, her thoughts drifting to its contents and the woman who had left it.

"She reminded me of you," Daniel's soft voice broke through her thoughts.

Abbie tilted her head to look directly at him "Are you sure it wasn't just the hair colour?"

Daniel let out a low chuckle. "Maybe. But I don't think it's a coincidence that you're both smart, outspoken, independent women who happen to be cute as hell when you're angry."

"Aeda and I were right," Abbie frowned. "You Daniels do have a type."

"Guilty." Daniel lifted the blanket off the back of the couch and settled it around them, tucking it in around Abbie's legs. "But at least we have the good sense to admit it."

"That's because we've taught you well," Abbie joked and settled down into Daniel's warmth.

"That you have." Daniel rubbed his hands lazily up and down her arms, sinking into a comfortable silence.

"I wonder what this is…" Abbie twisted the box in her hands, pulling a memory from the back of Daniel's mind of her doing the exact same thing with a tube of sunscreen.

Daniel plucked it out of her reach and gave it another shake, just for good measure. "It sounds … sexy?"

"You know, if I roll my eyes any more at you, Carter says they're going to get stuck."

"She would know - she spent enough time with McKay."

"True." Finished with the waiting – she had never been very patient with presents – Abbie stole back the box and made quick work of the wrapping paper. Tossing it behind her at Daniel's head, she lifted off the top and looked inside.

And was promptly unable to speak.

Intrigued by the now red tips of her ears, Daniel peaked over her shoulder, trying to get a good view of the mysterious box's contents. "What is it?"

Abbie ignored the question and pulled out the folded sheet of lined paper that was tucked underneath the gift. With a flick of her fingers, she found herself reading the hastily scrawled words of her now relocated friend.

_Abbie-_

_I'm no good with goodbyes – but I am good with gifts. A little something to remember me by. And I do mean little. It's not too late to give it a try – and if anyone else can be sure that you've got the right man to try it with, it's me. Be yourself, have fun, make each other laugh – and stay away from the white cotton!_

_Take care,_

_Aeda_

_P.S. Daniel made me add that he really likes satin. The degree to which I don't want to know, actually._

Abbie was having a small personal crisis. Words - the very things that occupied her life's work - completely and utterly failed her, the synapses in her brain refusing to fire, she was pretty sure on principle. For a woman who had breezed into her life for less than 48 hours, Aeda was certainly making sure she would never be forgotten.

"Abbie?"

The soft question refocused Abbie's attention, bringing her back from thoughts that revolved around asking Carter if it were possible to strangle someone from another universe.

"Everything ok?" Daniel asked, concerned at being met with a silence that didn't mean a difficult translation or impending doom. "Aeda didn't leave you strange pictures of Siler with a wrench, did she? Because I can see her trying to pull something like that."

The corners of Abbie's mouth curled gently into a smile. "Always stick with your gut, Daniel." She handed the box over, keeping a close eye on his features as she did so. "Your first guess was right on."

For all of his years as the diplomatic core of SG-1, Daniel was surprisingly bad at keeping a blank face. Abbie watched as his features reflected his brain cycling from confusion to recognition to something else entirely.

"It's . . . I mean, uh, they're . . ."

"Underwear?" Abbie asked with the best air of innocence she could muster.

Daniel made a noise somewhere between a snort and a growl. "You could call them that." His fingertips brushed the soft material, doing his best not to think about the fact that he was touching ... he couldn't actually make his brain form the words.

Abbie fought down a sudden flash of heat as his eyes met hers. As a kid, her mother had taught her to trust her instincts - that the hair standing up at the back of her neck meant something. When she joined the SGC, that trust in her own body's reactions kept her and her team out of trouble and alive. Every part of her well trained instinct was screaming that this was a man she could trust with anything - and that Aeda had simply provided a much needed nudge in a certain direction.

"Think maybe you'd like to give me a hand with those?" Abbie blurted out before she could register that her mouth was moving, completely without her permission.

"Putting them on or taking them off?" Daniel's waggled eyebrow and attempted leer had Abbie falling off the couch, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

The words of Aeda's letter passed though her mind as she struggled to pull in enough oxygen. Abbie managed to catch her breath and gave Daniel a raised eyebrow of her own. "Why don't we say the former with an open option on the latter?"

Daniel's face spread into a grin so wide that it threatened to split his face in half. "Sounds like the best offer I've had in months." Abbie watched as the grin softened, transformed into something intimate and warm that made her tummy roll over and take notice. "But only if you're sure?"

Abbie grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him closer. "Who am I to ignore the wishes of my well meaning but slightly perverted alternate reality counterpart?"

Daniel let out a little snort. "Well, when you put it that way." He leaned in, close enough that his next words were whispered right against her lips. "Did she leave you anything in satin?"

Abbie rolled her eyes and laced her fingers at the base of his neck. "We'll go shopping tomorrow."


End file.
